Francestown

Board to discuss bridge bids

FRANCESTOWN — The Select Board will meet tonight to review and discuss bids for work on the temporary bridge to be built on the Second N.H. Turnpike.

Road Agent Gary Paige is heading up the bridge project, which will be being constructed by the Francestown Highway Department, said at an April 8 Select Board meeting that there were three major things the town needed to request for bidding: excavators, heavy hauling for beams and jersey barriers, and lumber for decking.

Town Administrator Michael Branley opened the bids on Wednesday. He said the Select Board will review the information and make a decision based on what has been provided.

The bridge on the 2nd N.H. Turnpike has been closed to traffic since December. Paige said that the construction will hopefully be done and the temporary bridge open by the middle of May. Construction is slated to begin on the actual Turnpike bridge in the summer of 2014.

At an earlier Select Board meeting in March, Paige said the estimated cost to complete the temporary bridge would be about $50,000 to $55,000.

The decision to go with in-house construction by using the labor services of Francestown Highway was unanimously supported by the Select Board at a meeting in March.

At Town Meeting, residents voted to amend the town’s budget by accepting a temporary, one-lane bridge proposal by Francestown Sand and Gravel’s Kris Stewart. The bridge in Stewart’s plan was recyclable, whereas only parts of the bridge that will be built will actually be salvageable. Stewart’s bridge proposal was for $70,000.

Tonight’s meeting will be open to the public and will be held at the town office building at 5 p.m.